Passage Four The so-called Americanization phenomenon seems to be a consequence of the recent globaliza­tion in our world. If we find American products worldwide, it is also increasingly common to find Asian products in the United States. Going to any country in Asia nowadays, we are going to see a lot of the American icons ( 图标 ) everywhere. A few years ago when I was in Ho-Chi-Min City, formerly known as Saigon, I was com­pletely astonished at the number of billboards advertising products from multinational companies, many of them American. It is unforgettable for me—the vision of the spectacular Coca-Cola billboard on a Ho-Chi-Min Street. Living in the United Slates now, I am discovering many Asian products in America, from food to movies. In one day in San Francisco, or Seattle, or Houston, we can buy Sisheido cosmetics from Japan at the Galleria Mall, have sushi ( 寿司 ) and sashimi ( 生鱼片 ) in one of the many Japanese restaurants in the city, go to the cinema and enjoy the beautiful American-Chinese movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and take home spring rolls from one of the many Chinese restaurants in town. I understand that a great many people would like to hold hack the globalization process in the world because they think they are losing their own culture, but it is very difficult to stop this process. We can only try to be critical and choose what is best for us to have or to buy. However, many people think that young people are not free to choose when they are constantly exposed to attractive advertisements that are specially made to capture the youth market. Peaceful protests could be arranged just to help people to think about the situation, but the tendency in our world is that we want globalization, but we don't want to lose our own culture.